Bangkok: "Thanarat" reverses opposing views, explaining his reason for accepting the role as a speaker on the TH-AI Passport project, hoping to ensure appropriate budget allocation and highlighting the advantage of Thais using professional-level AI.
According to Thai News Agency, Mr. Thanarat Kuawattanaphan, CEO of DomeCloud, addressed his decision to participate as a speaker in the TH-AI Passport project amidst criticism, stating that the investigation into this matter involved coordinated efforts from multiple parties. Meanwhile, Dr. Kardee Leowpairoj, a Member of Parliament from the Democrat Party, is pushing for the suspension or cancellation of the project at the contract review stage before the Attorney General, where the document has yet to be signed.
However, he believes that if this project manages to proceed, there will need to be someone in place to oversee the budget and ensure its appropriate use. Therefore, he volunteered to get involved as a speaker to find ways to ensure the public can benefit as much as possible from the project, should it not be stopped.
Mr. Thanarat stated that the benefits that Thais will receive from this initiative stem from the project's design to reduce the technological gap, primarily targeting those who have never used AI before. Therefore, the system is simple and accessible directly through a web interface, not requiring advanced software for programmers.
Importantly, citizens will have free access to professional-level AI without having to pay a hefty $20 per month for world-class AI. Simply logging in and learning through video clips under the specified conditions for just 10 minutes a month will grant them access to professional-level features, offering benefits far exceeding the $20 per month cost. My opinion is overwhelmingly positive; it's beneficial and practical.
Furthermore, a clear benefit is access to expensive features such as AI-powered video creation, which typically has a retail cost of up to 10 baht per second, but eligible individuals can create up to 60 seconds of video per month.
Meanwhile, the project's contract was revised from a lump-sum payment of 1.5 billion baht to a pay-per-user (active user) system at a price of only 25 baht per person per month, paid based on actual usage. It is estimated that this will save the government approximately 600 million baht instead of the 1.5 billion baht initially, resulting in a budget reduction of around 900 million baht.
Mr. Thanarat further stated that if the public fully utilized the professional-level features at a government-subsidized cost of only 25 baht per month, it would be a tremendous benefit to Thai people, potentially resulting in losses for the private companies contracted for the service.